The present invention relates to a method of producing output image data representing a Cartesian two-dimensional floor plan from spherical input data of a room with a floor and walls.
The present applicant has commercially exploited a system for displaying a virtual map, used predominantly for providing immersive and interactive images of the interiors of rooms within houses and flats etc. Projections of images are generated and indications of a first position in a first image are obtained along with an indication of a second position within a second image. Within each rendered image, an element is present corresponding to the position of the other image such that, when operating within an immersive environment, it is possible to traverse from room to room.
In the implementation, original image data is recorded as omnidirectional input image data and sophisticated processing techniques are performed, as detailed herein, to provide the immersive environment. However, the image when viewed in a spherical format provides no information regarding the physical space mapped by the image, as all points are represented as on the internal surface of a notional sphere, and having an equal distance from the central viewing point.
The applicant has therefore identified a requirement for automatically extracting locations within the spherical image in order to create a floor plan of the imaged space.